UPDATE: Bitterwallet readers force Orange to scrap new call charges
August 12th, 2009 • 91 CommentsUPDATE 1006: We’ve just spoken to Orange’s press office – there’s a full release due to be sent to us in the next few minutes, but in the meantime we can confirm that in cases where Orange have already agreed to a cancellation, these will still stand. Anybody who has requested a PAC code will be informed that the changes will not be going ahead, but will still be free to cancel.
Orange have apologised for “any frustration and confusion” that customers have experienced, and we’ve also been told Orange are carrying out a full review of customer service procedures to ensure future customers aren’t treated in the questionable manner reported by dozens of Bitterwallet readers.
In the past three weeks, Bitterwallet has received thousands of comments and emails concerning Orange’s attempts to increase their charges on out-of-bundle minutes. You called their customer service reps in your droves, and amongst it all suffered inconsistencies and bare-faced lies from many of their operators.
And while we’re delighted to hear that our posts picking apart their own Terms of Service have secured new readers amongst Orange’s senior management and at Ofcom, it’s been staggering to see how many of you refused to accept changes made to your contract without permission, and fought for your right to cancel.
It’s your actions that last night forced Orange management into a meeting where they agreed to abandon the proposed increases. The Executive Office has confirmed that “a business decision was made” and that “further to feedback from several customers, Orange has decided not to go ahead with the proposed changes – Orange appreciates these changes were not communicated as well as they could have been.”
Orange aren’t admitting the charges were unfair, which is what the feedback surely reflected, but that their introduction was poorly communicated – regardless, consumer power has brought about some positive change. We’re now attempting to clarify Orange’s position concerning contracts they’ve already agreed to cancel – their press office have failed to provide any statements to us in the past week, but this is important stuff so we’ll try and get some answers. In the meantime if you have any information, let us know at bitterwallet@gmail.com.
[Image courtesy of TheGiantVermin]
Hello All.
I have my PAC code at home right now, having rang to cancel with orange about two weeks ago. If i were to use the PAC code now, would i still be eligible to cancel for free?
Orange scrap TofS changes - no more cancellations! - AVForums.com
@ SRH is 12. I’m not trying to, just stating what happened to me. Not my fault you can’t understand. Lol at your childish username, grow up!
going on what Orange are claiming, yes you should be canceled as soon as you use your PAC code
If you requested to cancle, but requested no PAC Code (And were given a disconection date of 9th sept .. so a while away).
does it stand?
Ive ordered a landline instal instead now
be shitty if this bites me in the ass and i end up paying for 2 services when i only want/need 1…
been reading lots of stories on MSE where people who wer allowed to disconect and asked for PAC to be sent are now phoning up to ask where it is and Orange are denying all knowledge or telling them they are no longer entitled to cancel. Bitterwlalet, think you may need to step in here again, what the hell are Orange playing at now!!!!!
@ Sam… i experienced exactly this, i rang on August 5th and was told my contract was canceled and my pac code would be with me in 5 days, i called back on tuesday to chase the pac code up as i had taken out a new contract and they denied all knowledge of me calling. The call was in my call register so i went to an orange store and rang customer service whilst there and let the advisor in the store tell customer service that she had seen the evidence of my call on the 5th. The customer service manager i was put through too then said there is no proof i called to cancel and the call could have been for anything. i am now stuck with two contracts! not so great. one things for certain, orange will never get my custom again after this! Bitterwallet if you can help that would be great haha
Sam, I believe you are allow to cancel any new contract within 14 days. But because it’s within 14days of starting a new contract you willl new to return the handset.
I have cancelled and received my PAC code on the 6th August i have already used this on a new contract and just wanted to check that i wouldn’t get a massive bill when my contract ends?
Hi,
Just wanted to say that as opposed to everyone else, I think Orange have been pretty decent in all this, here’s my story.
I took out a £35 a month contract in Dec, got a crappy samsung phone and a brand new PS3 with it. Called Orange to cancel last week, done it on the first attempt.
Got a letter from Orange on Saturday asking me not to leave cos they got really great deals etc….
Phoned them up today, got a new contract from when my canceled one ends, beginning of Sept, only £15 a month, same amount of minutes and texts I was on before, plus a brand new Nokia 6303, plus a mobile internet dongle, plus I keep the PS3!! Plus I keep my number! Plus I keep the crappy Samsung!
Result, thanks Bitterwallet. After years of being done over by the corps I feel I’ve won a small victory! Plus PS3 rocks!!!!!!!
Cancelled my contract on the 28th – seemed to be no problem. Guy said there was 30 days on it and I got my PAC a couple of days later. However, I now have my final bill for over £200 – a porting out fee apparently. I will be ringing them first thing tomorrow but wondered if anyone else has had one of these?
OK – panic over – just talked to a very helpful CSR in billing who went off and talked to her supervisor about my bill and got it wiped. Not sure why it was sent in the first place but am somewhat relieved as I’m expecting delivery of my new Nokia 5800 from Virgin this morning!
So, if you get a final bill that tries to charge you for porting, ring up billing and ask them to look into it – tell them you cancelled because of the t&c changes and weren’t expeting to pay for the rest of the contract.
Phew!
can we still cancel even though the changes have been withdrawn, we have not received a message to say the changes have been scrapped. we only started our contracts in march.
I am distraught at this news. I was desperate to cancel my contract having had my phone damaged but not being under warranty for its damage. Because I was one of the few people not to have recieved the text by the 12th I am now stuck with a very old phone for over 12 months. My phone call to Orange was terrible, the customer services man simply repeated the same phrases whilst I attempted to explain that I still was allowed to leave.
Its very difficult for me because even my girlfriend got the text but she was happy to continue! It seems everyone had the option to leave their contract for nothing but me and i was the one who needed it!!!!! Gah, any ideas? I think using my holiday insurance after dropping it in a lake by accident might well be my best bet!
Chris
@wayne – no.
@Chris
Sounds like a good idea mate. I’ve heard that some lakes just jump right up and grab mobiles out of people’s hands! lol
I got the text saying about the changes to the price plans and started looking round like everyone else phoned orange to cancle my contract so i could get one that suited my usage.
Orange are denying that they said i could cancle the contract what can i do now im kinda stuffed because i have no proof my end they said i could cancle. ??
I’d called last week and was refused a cancellation on a couple of occasions. So I sent a letter to orange and a copy of the letter via email.
I have received a reply to my email notifying me that the price rise will no longer go ahead.
All very clear untill I received a text today from Orange:
“Hi from Orange. Sorryyou’re leaving us due to our price changes from Sept, We’re no longer making these changes & would love you to stay. Call 150 and select option 1, then option 4 to talk to us.”
Whats going on? I called Orange and according to them this text was sent in error, and has been sent out to all that have requested to cancel, have I just been fobbed off? Has anyone else received the same text today?
I had called to cancel my contract on Saturday morning and request a PAC. Orange told me that I shuld be recieving it withing 2 days. Thursday morning I called again to confirm as i still didn’t recieve anything from them. Orange said it’s been in the post and they also confirm the address with me. This morning I called again as I was getting myself a sim only with Vodafone and i needed a PAC code at that time.
JAMES ext 27185 from Orange answered and he told me that there’s nothing on the system saying that I have requested the PAC nor cancelling my contract.
I explained that Orange confirmed with me twice that my contract has been cancelled and the PAC was on its way in the post.
I can’t wait until my contract with Orange ends. Apart from their bad attitude and rude oparators, the reception is not the best either.
JAMES said sarcasticly ‘ Our terms and conditions have been changed back to the same one
now. You can still cancel and get the PAC if you want to but you
have to pay £260. Do you want to pay? I will cancel it for you right
now if you want to pay?
I felt like being slapped in the face!!!!!!! I argued with him for a good 10 minutes. I just couldn’t believe I was treated like that. He was rude, and has got a real bad attitude. I wouldn’t have had any problem to carry on using if the charges have changed to the same terms and conditions but the way JAMES responded was unacceptable. If this is an Orange tactic to keep their customers, i think it is very pathetic. If Orange can not be honest with their customers then VODAFONE, O2, T-MOBILE, VIRIN and THREE are pretty much likely to have less competitor.
I guess he was lying about his name and the extension no. too!!
Rachel dont give up just tell them you have a recording of the phone call and tell them to look into it further or else you will take it further. Then ask for a manager take the name explain what happened. trust if one person is not any help u simply abuse them a little, laugh at them, hang up n dial again but be kind to the next person. Its pot luck what kinda of person you get so keep trying do not give up.
Is there any chance of being able to break my contract now. My sister works for CarphoneWarehous and she mentioned this loophole to me and said i had till September to cancel my contract. So just wondering if the loophole IS closed or is there still a way?
I too want to know if i can still cancel. My orange bill is about £300 a month and I have been affected by call charges outwith of my contracted minutes in the last 3 months. i got a text message informing me of the changes a couple of weeks ago.
@ rachel
i had the exact same issue, and i went straight to ofcom who emailed orange! within 24hrs i had a call from the executive complaints department, had to send over my new o2 contract i had taken out as proof i had taken a new contract out under the premise that my orange one had been cancelled and then she rang back saying my pack would be with me! 2 hours later i received it in a text! RING OFCOM 02079813000
Cancelling Your Orange Contract / Money Watch
Hi guys, was infomred about this a couple of weeks ago and thought I would wait to receive the text informing me of the changes before I called to cancel, I now see Orange are allegedly scrapping the changes, so can anyone confirm whether we can still cancel without charges now Orange have scrapped the proposed changes to their ToS?
Thanks
steve no changes are being made therefore no breach in contract hence no right to cancel im afraid, might be best of trying voda seeing they are going ahead with the same price hike although they are not alloing cmers to follow their consumer rights to cancel their contracts
I was told on the 10th august i will receive me pac code in 5 days so i ordered a new contract that night and soon after i went on holiday, have returned today have got my new phone rang orange up and they have no record of me requesting a pac code, only a record of me been told i do not reach the criteria so now they have told me i cannot do anything, only pay for both contracts, surely there must be somthing i can do
@ oli b b see my post a few above your @ rachel, i had similar issues that are resolved now!!!
Myself and my partner called orange on two occaisions and the first was in a carphone warehouse store where a member of staff also spoke to the representative. But the woman on the phone was insistant that we did not qualify as we didnt go over our quota of minutes etc on daily basis.
The second time we called they told us that they decided not to change the T and Cs and that we couldnt cancel. Didnt get any advice or apology or nothing. We have received no notification of this apart from getting told over the phone. will we still have a right to cancel?
@Adam, Billy
Thank you so so much for your advises. I called OFCOM after reading your comments. The OFCOM adviser was really nice and told me everything I needed. I called back Orange the same day and told them that I spoke to OFCOM. The guy from Orange was not too bad since I told him about OFCOM. I recieved my PAC today!!!!! RESULT!!!!
Thank you again!
@ rachel (duddy)
your move than welcome! i was really worried when i found myself in your position! it was not good thinking i now had two contracts too deal with. i was also very annoyed with the way orange had handled everything, especially claiming i hadnt called at all! im glad it all worked out for you!!
@Billy
I must admit I actually did give up. I was so angry and annoyed but didn’t know what to do until seeing this site. I really was ok to stay with Orange as their T&C hasn’t changed but when treated like that…….I ‘m saying goodbye to Orange.
I hope it all works well for you Billy!
Thank you again
hello i have just got back from holiday and was wondering if people are still getting their contracts cancelled? i have had problems with orange from day two of the contract, and am sick of having to stand in windows and outside to use the phone please let me know. mcrlegend@hotmail.com
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Please insert link as required or remove. Thanks
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Just spoken to Orange about cancelling a contract with a view to open another. Was told there was a £165 charge for this and as I pressed home the point that the TaCs had changed and that I was entitled to cancel, the call was cut off.
I also seem to have been denied access to my online account
The future’s shite, the future’s Orange.